A Champion's Quest
by tendy-pen
Summary: Taylor Eubanks, a seventeen year old trainer from New Bark Town, prepares to take on the Johto League for the second time, hoping this time to challenge Dragon master Lance for the Championship. Can he accomplish his dream?  New chapters every week!


"Ladies and gentlemen...May I now present...Our new Johto League Champion...from New Bark Town...TAYLOR EUBANKS!"

The crowd erupted in cheers as Lance grabbed Taylor's arm, and raised it high into the sky. As he stood there grinning from ear to ear, Taylor suddenly sensed a change in the pitch of the noise emanating from the hundreds of supporters in front of the stage. The pleasant roar morphed into a discomforting shrill sound, and as he looked around, he saw a strange Pokemon flying towards him at an improbably speed, repeatedly crying out in the same, shrill tone. As the Pokemon approached, Taylor began to panic, and before he could react by calling out one of his Pokemon, his surroundings vanished, and he began to fall towards the earth.

And with a horrible twitch, Taylor Eubanks awoke from his dreamy state, annoyed at the sound of his alarm clock, and more annoyed that his dream was not in fact reality as of yet.

A woman's voice called out to him from behind his bedroom door. "Taylor! Are you awake yet?"

"Yeah, Mom..."

He yawned, and grumbled to himself slightly as he pulled himself out of bed and made his to the washroom. After washing up, brushing, and changing, he made his way downstairs and was greeted by his ever-energetic mother, who greeted him with a cheery, "Good morning, Taylor!"

"Heya, Mom."

Taylor then noticed that his mother had donned dress pants and one of her finer blouses. "Er, so what's the occasion?" he asked as he looked her over.

"Come on, Taylor, don't tell me you've forgotten about my meeting today," she replied rather sharply. Taylor's memory finally sputtered to life as he remembered that his mother had been talking about little else for a fortnight. As the owner of a small franchise of Pokemon pharmacies, Lisa Eubanks was always on the lookout for new products that her stores could carry, and it seemed that she had discovered 'the next best thing' in the market. Today was an important day, as she was meeting with the licenser of a revolutionary new Poke-medicine to negotiate a deal that would grant her distribution rights in Johto.

"Oh right! 'Course I haven't forgotten, Mom. You haven't let me for the last week and a half," he joked.

Lisa laughed, and declared that it was time that she left. She gave Taylor a quick peck on the cheek, as she grabbed her purse and car keys, and wished him luck for a good day of training.

"Right back at ya!" Taylor called out as his mother walked out the front door. He looked over at the clock on the stove, and saw that it was just before eight. He grabbed a box of cereal and poured himself a bowl of milk. Grabbing the newspaper that his mother had left on the kitchen counter, he scanned the headlines, flipped a few pages, and let out a sigh of relief as he saw that his favourite team, the Shadow Balls had won their final season game to assure them a playoff spot.

Going back a few pages, he noticed an article that he had missed going forward. "Key Witness at Blackthorne Trials Goes Missing", he read aloud to himself. He vividly remembered the unexpected sequel to the Lake of Rage incident, which had seen Team Rocket attempt to use a dangerous technology to forcibly evolve the Dragon Den's Dratini to build an army of Dragonites. He and his idol, Lance, had been an integral part of stopping the operation, given their involvement at foiling Team Rocket at Mahogany Town some four years earlier. The trial for the culprits had dragged on for almost three years, and had been nearing a conclusion after a mid-level Rocket member chose to cooperate with authorities.

_And now he just vanishes...something's fishy about that._

Taylor's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the front door open. Thinking that his mother had forgotten something and returned for it, he made his way to the foyer, and was instead greeted by the familiar form of his longtime friend, Kristi.

"Kristi! Holy smokes, you're back!" he said as a huge grin formed on his face.

"Obviously, I'm back, bud. Who was gonna train you for the Johto league otherwise?" she teased as she put down the bag she was holding and walked over to him and gave him a tight hug.

Taylor reciprocated, and hung on a little while longer than he perhaps should have, just taking in the strawberry scent wafting from her hair.

"Looks like you've brought home a tan with you," he said cheekily when he let go, noticing that her skin had taken on a slightly orange glow after her week in Olivine City. "You definitely needed it. I was getting you and Persian mixed up all the time."

She scowled at the comparison to her most trusted Pokemon, and chose to respond by thumping him on the chest as she walked past him into the kitchen. Rubbing his chest, but still grinning, Taylor followed her.

"So how was your trip?" he asked as he flopped down onto a sofa. "It was fantastic!" she answered brightly, apparently over her mini-tantrum. "The beach was gorgeous, the shopping was great, and there were SO many super-cute guys," she said with a wink.

Taylor laughed, but on the inside his heart leapt with a pang of nervousness. He and Kristi were officially just good friends, but he couldn't help but feel slightly jealous when she attracted the attention of other guys.

_She's too cute for her own good. Well, stunning would be more like it...Those guys in Olivine were damn lucky they got to see her on a beach..._

"Uh, Taylor? Earth to Taylor! Come in, please!"

Taylor started as Kristi's voice from behind the kitchen counter shook him out of his daydream. "Wha - ? Oh, hey. What were you saying?"

Kristi rolled her eyes. "I was asking you what your plan was for training today, but I can see you're attempting to teach yourself Hypnosis. You might just wanna not try that on yourself though."

Now it was Taylor's turn to scowl. "You've done a pretty good job learning Sing," he retorted. "Puts everyone to sleep whenever you open your mouth."

Kristi made to throw the muffin she was eating at him, but then decided that her satisfaction of getting him back wouldn't be worth the food that she'd lose. She opted instead to put on a haughty expression and started to scan the newspaper that he had left there. Taylor took advantage of her momentary distraction, grabbed a large chunk of her muffin, and bolted to the door.

"HEY!" he heard Kristi yell out from behind him. "Give that back!"

Stuffing the muffin piece in his mouth, Taylor gave her a cheeky thumbs up and ran out before she could stop him. Kristi rolled her eyes again, and despite herself, she began to grin. "What an idiot."

Suddenly, she realized that she had completely forgotten about her reason for coming to visit him so early in the morning. Sighing, she went back to the bag that she had set down upon entering the Eubanks' home, and pulled out a small, rectangular box.

_That damn Taylor...Why is he so distracting? I can never, ever remember what I'm supposed to be doing when I'm around him._

She frowned, not sure where that thought was leading her, and then shrugged.

_I guess I should go find him. He's going to be SOOO excited when he sees this._

With a smile playing about her face, she re-packed the box, and set out after her friend.

Meanwhile, Taylor had already found his secluded spot in the nearby forest where he and his Pokemon would go through their morning warm-up routine. "Come on out, guys!" he called out, as six flashes of red light lit up the immediate area.

"Ampha! Ampharos!"

"Kazammm!"

"Gatrrrr! Ferali-!"

"Golem! Go-! -Lem!"

"Pidgeottttt!"

"Nairrrr!"

Taylor smiled as his team of trusted companions joined him. "Did you guys all get some good rest last night?" A chorus of loud replies indicated the affirmative. "Well, you all know the routine! Let's get started!"

Taylor watched his Pokemon hustle off into their spots around the forest clearing and begin running through the training regimen that he had developed for each one of them. As he watched them for a few moments, he couldn't help reflecting on the journey that each one of them had taken to get to where they were now.

_I can remember Feraligatr when he was just a little Totodile. I used to be able to pick him up with one hand! And Pidgeot! It's weird to think that there was a time when she couldn't blow me off my feet with Gust. _

Still replaying memories in his head, Taylor began his own workout, finding an even spot on the ground to start stretching. After about forty-five minutes, once everyone in the little clearing had broken a sweat, he called in his team.

"Good work, guys!" he said happily. "You're all looking better and better every time we train!" The Pokemon all expressed their thanks at the compliment, and waited for him to continue. "Okay, so the plan for today is that I'm gonna be working one-on-one with Dragonair for a while, so the rest of you get some time to just relax and explore the forest.

"But first, chow time!" All six Pokemon cheered as Taylor brought out the Pokemon food that Professor Elm had provided him with. They plopped down in a semi-circle and ate their fill with gusto. Once he was content that everyone had gotten enough to eat, Taylor got up and stretched out his arms.

All of a sudden, he was assaulted from behind by a torrent of water. Taylor cried out in surprise at the sudden feeling of cold on his back. He stumbled forward, and turned around to see Kristi and her Vaporeon at the edge of the clearing, both bent over with laughter.

Furious, but amused, Taylor rushed at her, only to be halted in his tracks by another blast of water from Vaporeon. This time, the Water Gun attack knocked him clean off his feet, and he bounced backwards a metre after landing. His t-shirt was also now soaked through.

"And that, bud, is why you don't steal a hungry girl's muffin," she giggled.

Taylor glared at her, but was only feigning his anger. Turning himself around so that she wouldn't see the smile breaking out on his face, Taylor grabbed his workout towel to dry off his hair and proceeded to peel off his drenched shirt.

Behind him, Kristi felt herself blush a little bit as she saw Taylor stripping off his top. She noticed that his daily workouts with his Pokemon had indeed made a difference. His muscles were better defined, and he had developed an enviable tan. Coupled with the fact that he was about six feet in height, he certainly radiated charm and charisma.

Her reverie was interrupted by Taylor's voice, followed by a blur of colour in front of her, as Taylor's soaked t-shirt landed right on her face.

"TAYLOR!" she hollered as she threw the article to the ground beside her.

Feeling that he might have gone too far with his joke, Taylor looked sheepish as he walked up to her to collect his shirt. As he leaned forward to pick it up, he felt Kristi's hands pushing him over, and found himself once again on his behind, looking up at a triumphant Kristi, who had a mischevious fire in her eyes.

They stared at each other for a long second, and then Kristi stuck out her hand to help him up. He clasped her hand, pulled himself off the ground and to her surprise, squeezed her into another tight hug. "I missed ya, Krist. It's good to have you back."

She smiled back at him after they stepped apart."Come on, bud, let's get to training."


End file.
